10/15/15

Michael Baron| Just Mets- So, here we are. 166 games into the season. A month’s worth of spring training games, and nearly another month under the warm, winter sun in Port St. Lucie. 92 wins later, with sore arms, bad backs, tow swollen knees and legs in tow, the Mets season comes down to one day. “If anybody was going to pitch two games in the series for us, it would be Jacob deGrom. I worked out that way,” Collins said. “There’s a reason why we thought if we’re up 2-1 in Game 4 that we’re going to save him because he’s the guy we want on the mound. You kind of feel real confident that he’s pitched well out there that he’s going to go out and do it again. And once again, this is a time when you need your guys to step up and you certainly think he’ll do that.”

Mike Puma| New York Post- All volunteers will be considered. As Mets manager Terry Collins surveys the scene for Thursday’s Game 5 of the NLDS against the Dodgers, two big names have been added to the list of potential relievers: Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard. “We’re going to be smart about it,” Collins said. “We’re not going to be foolish and go right to Matt Harvey if Jake is in trouble in the second inning. “He wants to pitch, He never, I don’t think he ever shied away from the fact he wanted to pitch in the postseason. We’re here now and he’s ready to take the ball when he needs it. We’re talking about guys going only one or two innings tops, anyway.”

Kristie Ackert | NY Daily News- Conforto will likely get his second start of the playoffs Thursday as the Mets return to Dodger Stadium for the winner-take-all Game 5 of the NLDS. With the righthanded Greinke going again for the Dodgers, Terry Collins is expected to stick Conforto in left field. I had two at-bats against him, I saw maybe three pitches to hit,” Conforto said. “The approach we had was pretty solid. It worked out for me. I was just kind of trying to keep him in the middle of the plate, make him elevate. Then just try and get something you can hit the ball hard, but he has a lot of good stuff.”

(Chris Soto: Here we go! The one game [so far] that's going to be for all the marbles. Nothing is off limits tonight. No pitch counts, no rules. If using Wright to bunt the runner over to 2nd base with 0 outs is going to set the table for Cespedes, then so be it! If sacrificing your body to stop a groundball is needed, even if you can't get the out, then so be it! If deGrom is gassed and the heart of the order is coming up....and using Thor or Harvey is the best option......Guess what? Then SO BE IT!

The Mets know first hand that next year is never a guarantee....they need to take advantage of being in the playoffs now and make the most of it. Winning tonight.....means getting back to NY and to the inevitable matchup between young star studded pitching and young star studded hitting.)

I think using Thor out of the bullpen could prove to be a huge mistake. He often takes a while to settle in and find his control, gives up runs in his first innkng and he is not yet mentally strong enough to come into a pressure situation from the pen.

Ahead of him in my mind we have 2 innings from Colon (he provides a brilliant change of style from deGrom), 2 from Familia, and maybe 1 from Reed or Tyler. Let's hope we don't have to turn to Thor. It's too risky for me.

Hey Alexander i hear what ur saying about Thor but don't forget that he was throwing 101mph to start that last game..... imagine that for just one inning (IMO Thor is better off coming into a clean inning nobody on).

In my perfect world deGrom would go 7 innings (obviously more if he can) with Syndergaard pitching the 8th and familia the 9th.Its a one game season and I'll take my chances with young Thor over Reed and Clippard.

I'm not sure many or any of the current Met players are reliably capable of actually placing a bunt down.

From what I have seen through out the season, any Met players that were actually called upon to bunt, looked terrible in trying.Most of my Met bunting memories from this year involve popped up bunts to the pitcher and catcher, missed bunts, and bunts fouled off.

It could be assumed, from the dreadful results that bunting was not well drilled through spring training and during the season.

Add bad bunting ability to 95 mph fastballs and my guess is that there are not many Met players that want to stick their face out over the plate.

It's a shame that the Mets don't take advantage of bunting or just slap hitting the ball against the shift though. It can also help to elevate the pitch count and add the pressure of men on base.

Going the other way, even with a bunt, has become a lost skill. My belief is that as shifts take over the game, "bat control" will become more of a prized skill at the lower levels. Hitting 'em where they ain't. But it's not easy. A pitcher can easily field a poor to average bunt.

Coaching 15-year-olds this past year, I forced them to play pepper, practice after practice, in the hope that they'd enjoy it as a fun warmup drill . . . and develop some of those contact skills.

It's a lost art.

But no, I don't believe that Lucas Duda has the ability to lay down a quality bunt at this point in his career. Why he or Curtis can't try to "stick the bat out" for a grounder toward 3B, I don't rightly know. Ego? Comfort zone? Pure ability? Lack of practice? Degree of difficulty? Or all of the above.

I'd like to see Lucas go long, frankly. When he does, he usually hits another.

Reese, it absolutely would justify his place and even his contract. I had kind of been hoping he'd have some sort of renaissance in the playoffs - it's the Mets' charmed season right? But so far he looks helpless. Maybe a lucky hit.

It's hard to be optimistic as a Mets fan and my head tells me beating Greinke twice in a week is too much to ask. But f*** it, I'm going with my heart today. Jake throws 8-innings of pure zeros, and Conforto goes deep in the 7th inning. 1-0 Familia loads the bases in the 9th and then throws three 98-mile an hour cutters to strike out Chase Utley.

Tom and Ernest, I agree, Noah would be a better bet than Reed or Clippard. Still, it will be completely uncharted territory, and I will be bloody nervous. He may well throw 110 miles an hour but will he locate? In just a few hours all will become clear...